Binance adds 1-7 day withdrawal lock to stop forced transfers

On May 4, Binance introduced Withdraw Protection, a setting that blocks on-chain withdrawals for a user-selected period between one and seven days. The default lock is 48 hours. While the lock is active, customers can continue to trade, manage portfolios and access their accounts, but outgoing transfers are paused until the window ends.

Users can enable Withdraw Protection in the Binance mobile app under Account Centre → Account Info → Security and on the web in Security → Advanced Security. After activation, the platform shows when withdrawals will be re-enabled.

By default the lockdown cannot be ended early by anyone, including the account holder. An optional “Allow early unlock” can be enabled; the platform requires a physical security key and an authenticator app to use that option. Additional confirmation through a secondary contact method may be requested to complete an early unlock.

Binance described the feature as aimed at situations where attackers force users in person to authorize transfers, cases in which passwords and two-factor methods may not prevent a transfer. In its announcement the company wrote, “Withdraw Protection is a new Binance security feature that blocks all withdrawals for a lockdown window you set, between 1 and 7 days.” The announcement added that, by default, a lockdown cannot be ended early and that an optional early-unlock setting is available.

Assets remain held on the platform during the lockdown. Any attempt to move funds on-chain is held until the selected period expires or until the platform completes a verified early-unlock process. Binance stated the setting complements existing protections including passkeys, withdrawal address whitelisting, biometric login and anti-phishing tools.